(Bloomberg) – American International Group Inc. filed for an initial public offering of its life and retirement arm, one of the final steps in years of effort to simplify the giant insurer.
AIG said in a filing on Monday that the business would be renamed Corebridge Financial Inc once it went public. The insurer called the business “one of the largest providers of retirement solutions and insurance products” in the US, with $411 billion in customer assets under management as of the end of last year.
“Today’s announcement represents continued progress as we prepare our life and retirement business to become a standalone company,” AIG Chief Executive Officer Peter Jaffino said in a statement.
The company also announced new directors on the board of Corebridge, which already includes Blackstone Inc. President Jonathan Gray and Jaffino, who serves as the unit’s president.
Zuffino and his predecessor, Brian Duperrault, have spent many years overhauling AIG. Efforts to execute part of the insurer’s agenda by splitting the life and retirement business have intensified in recent months.
Earlier on Monday, AIG announced a deal with BlackRock Inc., which will see the investment manager take over the equivalent of $150 billion of the insurer’s assets.
blackrock, blackstone
Prior to the deal with BlackRock, AIG sold a 9.9% equity stake in its life and retirement business to private equity firm Blackstone for $2.2 billion in cash. That agreement created a “long-term strategic asset management relationship” for an initial $50 billion from the insurer’s life and retirement portfolio, which is expected to grow to $92.5 billion within six years.
The size and price of the Corebridge share sale have yet to be determined, according to the filing, which indicated the business had a total equity of $28.9 billion as of the end of 2021. This represents its book value, or how much it will be worth in a liquidation. According to the filing, AIG will be the selling shareholder in the listing.
According to the filing, the business reported net income of $7.4 billion in 2021 on revenue of $23 billion, a substantial increase from net income of $642 million on revenue of $15 billion a year ago on a pro forma basis. The company said in its filing that nearly half of the unit’s revenue from investments last year came from premiums and policy fees, with a total of $8.7 billion.
Corebridge plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CRBG. JPMorgan Chase & Company, Morgan Stanley and Piper Sandler are leading the share sale.
IPO Slowdown
Corebridge’s filing could signal a return to the IPO. Activity in that market has been muted since January amid high volatility, inflation concerns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Dealmakers have said that after a string of follow-on offerings and block trades, the new listing is set to make a comeback in the next few months.
FOR MORE: US IPO Expectations Looking For Signs Of The Elusive Market Window
After record-breaking 2021, IPOs on US exchanges are in their worst quarter since 2016. Only 33 companies, not including blank-check firms, have raised a total of $2.75 billion in listings since January. 1, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The private equity firm accounted for a total of $1.1 billion with its January offering.
The data shows that in the first three months of 2021, by comparison, 150 companies raised more than $56 billion in IPOs in the US.
